How long will Catholics continue to ignore this problem?
In the early Church, when most Catholic clergy were heterosexuals, the Council of Nicea in 325 decreed: “This great synod absolutely forbids a bishop, presbyter, deacon or any of the clergy to keep a woman who has been brought in to live with him, with the exception of course of his mother or sister or aunt, or of any person who is above suspicion.” Effectively, Nicea prohibited clergy from cohabiting or marrying after receiving holy orders. It did not preclude them from marrying before ordination, like Orthodox and Eastern Rite Catholic clergy. The Council participants believed that allowing clergy to live together with women with whom they were not married could lead them to engage in sexual relations and even beget children.
Today, when most Catholic bishops, priests, and seminarians are homosexuals, why do Church leaders and the laity not want to address how homosexual seminarians and priests are not only tempted if they are living together, but, in many cases, are engaging in gay sex? When studies show that most Catholic clergy are homosexual and unfaithful to their vow of chastity or promise of celibacy, with some gay priests even being buried together, why is it that recent seminary studies and an apostolic letter on the priesthood by Pope Leo XIV give the false impression that seminarians and priests are both heterosexual and celibate? It is highly doubtful that the current prefect for the Dicastery for the Clergy, when presented with studies showing that at any moment in time no more than half of all priests are leading celibate lives, would echo the words of one of his predecessors, Filipino Cardinal José Tomás Sánchez, who said, “I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of those figures.”
Catholics were scandalized to learn that David Salvato, the former Chancellor of the Joliet Diocese under Bishop Ronald Hicks, recently left his job to “marry” another man. It was also reported that Salvato previously worked for 10 years as a canon lawyer for Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez. Why is it that neither Pope Leo nor many Catholics expressed dismay when Father Steve Rosera moved into the home of Santa Fe Archbishop John C. Wester after having been married to another man for ten years? Are Catholics supposed to believe that pro-LGBTQ Archbishop Wester is a heterosexual and that there is no emotional or sexual connection between these two clerics?
If I were an associate pastor and returned to the rectory, arm in arm, with an attractive young woman whom I brought to my bedroom, I doubt that the pastor, regardless of his sexual orientation, would tolerate such behavior. Yet, why do the Pope and bishops allow this to happen with homosexual priests? Might it be the same reason neither Pope Leo nor Cardinal Timothy Dolan said or did anything when ABC News anchor Gio Benitez, an openly gay man living in a same-sex marriage, was confirmed at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan?
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